Don't Go Paperless The Wrong Way

Don't Just Replace Your File Room

So many organizations feel that going paperless means that they take all the paper that is currently in their organization's filing rooms and all the incoming mail and simply digitize it and file it on a computer. The end result of tackling going-paperless with this approach means that all the old inefficiencies of old paper methods and bad habits get ported into this new paperless world.

Start With The End Goal In Mind

The first step that most organizations should take when going-paperless is to identify all the paper documents that the organization has filed and what comes in thru the mail; then, with all these items documented the next task is to look at "why" these documents are being kept. Does your company have policies that require you to keep them? Are there tax reasons that you should be keeping them? And what do you really need to keep in a paper format? Can these documents be kept in an electronic format? If in an electronic format, is it really just discrete pieces of data that should be held in a database system, like CRM, or should the unstructured document be held in a document management system, like Sharepoint?

Should all of YOUR existing documentation go with you into this new paperless world?

“By achieving a silver competency, organizations have proven their expertise in specific technology areas, placing them among the top 5 percent of Microsoft partners worldwide,” said Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp.